Making it through

In the spirit of dual blog entries, here are two for today. First, from Sharon, then from Ned….

I completed my ultrasound training this week and scanned at least 20 babies and observed 40 more! It was thrilling. I scanned one baby that was 5 weeks 5 days old who’s heart began to beat 5 weeks 1 day so I saw that tiny flicker 4 days after it began. This was 3 1/2 weeks after mom conceived. There were some very active bigger babies. I have a little more practicing to do next week and then I will be on my own. A friend funded my tuition to make this possible. I plan to pay that forward some day and do the same. That could be an excellent designation for our fundraising- for scholarships to send our volunteer nurses to training. The needs are numerous. Maybe you can come up with your own. I am more psyched than ever after spending 4 days scanning the Miracle through the Window To The Womb. Thanks to Jim, my instructor, and a very patient man. He made the class fun but also impressed upon us the importance of excellent technique. It’s a week I will never forget. We are past the 5 week point in our journey and our hearts are beating strong.

Sharon– limited ultrasound Nurse.

Not much to report on the paddling front, the weather is turning cold – too cold to get out on the lake. But, today is the running of the White Rock Marathon (now called the Dallas Marathon), so thousands of runners will be circling by our house as they compete in this event. And, it has me thinking about our daughter, Elisabeth.

You may remember that she’s our intrepid communications officer. Every kayak/canoe race she takes the job of posting our progress on the blog while we’re out paddling. Running is her passion. A few years ago she started lacing up the running shoes and getting in shape and has now completed a couple of half marathons. Sharon and I are both very proud of the grit she’s shown pushing through the pain and putting in the road miles to get ready for these events and she’s now planning two races within the next year. One’s out in the LA area, where she lives, and the second will be further north in San Francisco.

She doesn’t sound too worried about the first but the second involves hills – a lot of hills! They call the kind of racing I do “flat water” and I’m really grateful that I don’t have to go up, then down, then up…..

That’s the beauty of it, though. You try something new and then set another goal for yourself. Elisabeth found she could finish a half marathon on fairly flat land and has challenged herself to something tougher. Sharon got out of her comfort zone by volunteering to do something different then went after the next challenge of an intensive week long class and learned another new skill. I’m so very impressed with these two strong women in my life.